Attukal Pongala Festival The pongala at the Attukal Bhagavathy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, where women cook a sweet rice offering in the open in brick hearths that fill the streets of the city for miles.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Attukal Pongala
- മലയാളം
- ആറ്റുകാൽ പൊങ്കാല
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: a tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
What the day is
The pongala at the Attukal Bhagavathy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, where women cook a sweet rice offering in the open in brick hearths that fill the streets of the city for miles. Only women make the offering; the fire is passed from the temple hearth outward, and the priest sprinkles holy water on every pot at the end. It is one of the largest gatherings of women anywhere.
- Deity
- Bhagavathy, Kannaki
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
Pooram nakshatra at sunrise in Kumbham, near the Pournami; the hearths are lit at the hour the temple announces in the morning and the pongala is offered at about midday.
The fast
Those who cook the pongala fast from the previous night and eat only after the offering is sanctified.
Where the regions differ
Attukal is the great one; similar pongalas are made at other Bhagavathy temples in Kerala and at the Amman temples of the Tamil districts on their own days.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it. A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.